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META
Stem Cells Save Chronic Granulomatous Disorder Boy From Death!
Posted 20 August, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! | No comments
All the components of a perfect story here- we have a boy with a deadly disease, we have a community uniting together to save him, and it involves my favorite subject repair (adult) stem cell therapy.
Jack Close, 8, from Rowlands Gill, Gateshead, England, was suffering from Chronic Granulomatous Disorder- a disease that destroys the body’s immune system. He needed a bone marrow transplant, but he didn’t have a matching donor. Therefore, the whole community started a campaign to get people to register their bone marrow to find a match. It worked!! Within 1 month, they found a matching donor for Jack who donated his bone marrow. And that’s not all, the repair stem cells in the donor’s bone marrow did their job- Jack is now “living life to the full.” I think it is supposed to be “living life to the fullest,” but maybe that is an English thing. Nevermind, the important thing is Jack is saved! Read on-
The Chronicle first told of Jack’s plight last September. He had been diagnosed with a rare blood condition called Chronic Granulomatous Disorder, which was wrecking his immune system.
It meant cells in his bone marrow could not fight off bacteria and Jack was susceptible to infection, which could potentially have led to his death. He needed a bone marrow transplant urgently.
The Chronicle launched the Give Jack a Chance campaign asking people in the North East to register as bone marrow donors. A perfect match was found a month later.
He went into Newcastle’s General Hospital on February 15 for a course of chemotherapy and had the operation two weeks later.
Jack, of Rowlands Gill, Gateshead, is now living life to the full.
Click here for the whole story
Optic Nerve Hypoplasia Helped by Stem Cell Therapy
Posted 19 August, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! | No comments
Yet another blind child can now see thanks to repair (adult) stem cells. And of course, the child is an American who had to go all the way to China to get it done. See below on how Savannah Watring suffering from Optic Nerve Hypoplasia can see now thanks to repair stem cell treatment. This line from the article was especially touching “She saw herself in the mirror; not knowing it was her, she said hello,“ Can you imagine how the parents must have felt at that moment? A child seeing for the first time, not knowing what a mirror is and saying hello to herself- imagine the joy they must have felt. That is fantastic! Let’s get this going in the USA!
SEDALIA, Mo. — An 8-year-old blind girl who is undergoing stem cell treatments in China can now see colors, her family says.
Savannah Watring, of Syracuse, flew to China with her father, Brent Watring; grandmother RaVana Watring; and aunt Shonna Millsap on July 23 and has received four treatments, with three more scheduled. Her family plans to return to the U.S. on Aug. 28.
Her aunt Sherla Hagerman, of Fortuna, said that Savannah is picking up on blue, green and red colors.
“She saw herself in the mirror; not knowing it was her, she said hello,” said Hagerman, who gets updates on Savannah’s progress through a Web site, www.sightforsavannah.com, and through daily e-mails and occasional telephone calls. “She said hello to herself in an elevator (after seeing her reflection). It blew everyone away. We weren’t expecting that.”
Savannah was born with optic nerve hypoplasia, the leading cause of blindness in children.
It happens when the optic nerve fails to develop in utero, but doctors aren’t sure what causes the condition. Swedish researchers found that it occurs in 10.9 children per 10,000.
Director From Center for Disease Control and Prevention Goes to China For Stem Cell Treatment!
Posted 18 August, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! | No comments
Teresa Mason, a director from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia went to China to receive repair stem cell therapy for her Olivopontocerebellar atrophy, a specific form of the neurological condition Ataxia. I think I may not be the only one who finds it ironic that someone who works for the organization (the CDC) that may have the most access to information and treatments to rare conditions/diseases in the United States has to travel to China to get the proper (really, the only) treatment known. The United States may be winning the overall medal count in the Olympics now in Beijing, but China deserves another gold medal for being able to help yet another person by making adult (repair) stem cell treatment available to those in need. And unsurprisingly, Teresa Mason is already showing positive results from her stem cell treatment:
Mason said while she has experienced immediate results from the treatments, her doctors in China indicate that it will take two to six months for the stems cells to effectively synchronize with her existing cells. She said there are noticeable improvements, although she still feels herself trembling a little when she is tired, and her gait is not completely smooth.
“However, my balance and speech are much stronger,” Mason said. “I know that the stem cell treatments are working, and what is most important now is that I watch my dietary intake and have some form of physical exercise on a daily basis.”
While in the hospital, Teresa received four doses of 10 million to 15 million umbilical cord stem cells injected into her cerebral spinal fluid via an epidural catheter and through an IV. The 30-day treatment also included rehabilitative sessions six days a week. Those rehabilitative sessions included balance exercises, practice walking in a straight line, running, jogging and going up and down steps without holding on.
The Walker family said they are elated to see immediate improvements.
Stem Cell Treatment for Spinal Cord Injured Texan!
Posted 14 August, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! | No comments
A police officer who was paralyzed in a car accident is now doing better thanks to repair stem cell therapy. Rickey Turner, had to go all the way to China to get this stem cell therapy because it isn’t yet approved in the USA (although it should be). Is he walking again? No, but the beauty of adult (repair) stem cell therapy for spinal cord injuries is that it is a very low risk procedure that has helped him (and others) in ways that people who aren’t paralyzed have difficulty imagining. Read on to see what I mean:
Quick results
Sitting at home in his electric wheelchair, Turner recalled a much different life before his brush with death in 2006.
Turner was seriously injured Aug. 29, 2006, while he was on patrol in Henderson. The wreck left him paralyzed.
“My left hand was sensitive to touch,” Turner, a father of three, recalled. “My index and middle finger were hypersensitive on my left hand, and if I moved them, it shot a sharp pain up through my arm. If I had a spasm in my leg, it would send a pain like lava, and I would scream out in pain.”
Turner also lost feeling in part of his arms and had no movement from his chest down to his legs. He also sustained irreversible injuries to his spinal cord. Doctors told him he would never walk again.
Turner said the pain from his condition caused him to withdraw as the Democratic nominee for Rusk County sheriff earlier this year.
But those prognoses since have changed.
In March, Turner traveled to Hangzhou, China to seek treatment at Xiaoshan Hospital. He received six injections of adult stem cells, harvested from umbilical cord blood, in his spinal cord in hopes that he would have the chance to move freely again.
Turner said he had to go to China to receive treatment because the spinal cord procedure has not been approved in the United States. Stem cells harvested from umbilical cord blood rehabilitates damaged nerves and improves motor functions, such as body movement and bowel control, according to the Beike Cell Medical Group that performed Turner’s stem cell treatment and coordinated his trip.
The treatment worked.
“My mother was sitting with me that night, and I could touch my index and middle finger and didn’t have the sharp pain,” Turner said, recalling what happened after he received his fourth stem cell injection. “Then my finger began to move. My mother asked, ‘Did you do that?’ I told her, ‘I think I did.’ ”
Turner said the doctors didn’t expect any activity to occur for 75 days. It took three weeks.
“The doctors came in to check on me and couldn’t believe it,” Turner said. “They ran out of the room and came back in and started videotaping everything. My mother and I were crying because the last time I was able to move those fingers was before the wreck. It was really something.”
Since his treatment, Turner has more mobility in his upper torso, has more strength and motion in his arms and can play-wrestle with his 4-year-old son Corbin Turner.
Stem Cell Therapy For Peripheral Vascular Disease!
Posted 12 August, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! | No comments
In Utah, they are about to begin a trial that will have patients with peripheral vascular disease treated with their own adult (repair) stem cells. The trial will be offered to patients who are “no-option,” that is, they can’t do an angioplasty, they can’t do a bypass, the only option left is amputation. Well now, thanks to Repair Stem Cell Therapy, there is another option- getting stem cell treatment using a patient’s own stem cells.
Here is part of the article-
Can stem cells save patients from amputation? (I can save somebody a lot of work- YES!! THEY CAN!!!- DM)
August 11th, 2008 @ 6:14pm
By Ed Yeates
Utah doctors want to know if a patient’s own stem cells might save them from amputation. (Memo to Utah Doctors- Yes, they can!!!- DM)
The University of Utah is starting a unique clinical trial using volunteer patients who are at a critical stage of their vascular disease.
Surgeons may have to amputate a limb for a number of reasons. Patients might be soldiers, or victims of an accident, or they might have what is called peripheral vascular disease. Diabetes, age, smoking, high cholesterol and genetics all play a role in how this disease blocks vessels going to the lower limbs. In critical stages, patients are at the end of their rope.
Stem cells from study volunteers will be brought to the University of Utah’s cell therapy lab. There they’ll be purified and concentrated. The cells will be drawn from the blood stream of patients who have been given a medication. That medication literally mobilizes the stem cells out of the bone marrow.
Once prepared in the lab, the concentrated cells go back to those same patients.
Dr. Kraiss said, “We’re hopeful that taking a lot of these cells from the patient’s own bone marrow and then injecting it into the areas where there’s poor blood supply that these cells will basically manufacture new blood vessels.”
Ok, I have to be positive that this is a step in the right direction, albeit a tiny one and too slow for my (and millions of others suffering from Peripheral Vascular Disease) liking. My goal at the Repair Stem Cell Institute is to make adult (repair) stem cell therapy available to all!
Stem Cell Therapy For Spinal Fusion!
Posted 11 August, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! | No comments
It seems like everyday, they are finding a new way to use stem cell treatment. Today, I have a story on repair (adult) stem cells being used for spinal fusion. Chronic back pain affects millions of people around the world. Sometimes, back surgery or “spinal fusion” is the only solution to their back pain. Well, “spinal fusion” just got a lot easier thanks to stem cell therapy. Quicker recovery time, less pain, and most likely a better outcome- what’s not to like about repair stem cells? Read on about this back patient, Leslie Mignona:
She decided on spinal fusion, which helps reduce nerve pain by stabilizing the spine.
But instead of the traditional approach, she opted for a new procedure using adult stem cells to fuse her spine together.
“I think it’s extremely exciting,” orthopedic surgeon Dr. Kam Momi said.
Momi said stem cells offer an alternative to traditional spine fusions, which are done using a patient’s own bone.
“What we did was make a separate incision at the pelvis, scrape out bone from the inside of the pelvis, and pack that into the spine where we wanted it to go,” Momi said.
With the new stem cell procedure, disc space is filled with a material called “Trinity.” Trinity is a mixture of donated adult stem cells combined with crushed bone from a bone bank.
Once the material is in the spine, the cells go to work.
“They genetically turn on the switches to make bone cells, and eventually the bones fuse together,” Momi said. (YES! Repair Stem Cells doing their job!- DM)
Recovery time is fast, lasting only about three months, compared to the year-long recovery associated with traditional fusions.
Stem Cell Treatment Trial Helps Heal Broken Bones!
Posted 8 August, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! | No comments
While most of my stories focus on stem cell therapy in China, Thailand, Costa Rica, and the United States, we don’t normally hear too much from our friends Down Under in Australia. Well, it turns out they are busy there too with adult stem cell therapy. In this successful trial, they treated patients who had non-healing bones with their own repair (adult) stem cells. Take a look at this:
A 36-YEAR-old man who suffered a badly broken leg that wouldn’t heal is walking again without crutches after the successful trial of stem cells to repair non-healing bones.
A year after Anthony Giancola suffered a compound fracture of the leg in a motorcycle accident on New Year’s Eve 2005, he was still unable to walk freely.
“I was ‘egg shell walking’ where I could only put light pressure on the ground,” Mr Giancola said.
But within two weeks of being implanted with his own bone marrow stem cells from his pelvis in December 2006, the fracture was improving and he was able to attend a friend’s wedding without crutches.
“There was no pain whatsoever and within two weeks I felt good,” Mr Giancola said.
Eight of the 10 trial patients had complete unions in their fractures, including one man whose fracture had not knitted properly since his accident almost four years ago.
To read more about how repair stem cells heal broken bones, click here
Stem Cell Therapy Doctor Helps Heart Attack Survivors!
Posted 7 August, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! | 1 comment
Today, one of the Repair Stem Cell Institute’s very own Scientific Advisory Board members is in the news. Dr. Zannos Grekos, a cardiologist in Florida is helping heart disease patients with their own adult stem cells. Dr. Grekos can help heart attack victims, congestive heart failure patients and coronary artery disease patients by treating them with stem cells taken from their own body.
Don’t take my word for it, let’s see what some of his patients had to say:
One year ago, Richard Rzaca was struggling just to do everyday tasks. He has had a near fatal heart attack and underwent 4 bypasses. Despite medications, his heart was getting weaker by the day.
Before the stem cells, Rzaca’s heart was pumping at 25%. A few months later, it’s at 73%.
“I was looking for help, and the good Lord sent me up here to see Doctor Grekos, and it was the best move I ever made in my life,” said Rzaca.
A similar story for heart attack survivor Peter Holler, who underwent a quadruple bypass:
“The front part of my heart was dead from the original heart attack.” Holler explained.
The portion of Holler’s heart that had been dead, started pumping again after his stem cell treatment.
“No matter what the price is, you can’t buy it,” Said Peter Holler. “I call him the miracle worker.”
And Dr. Grekos- what does he have to say?
“We improve their quality of life, we’ve reduced mortality,” Dr. Grekos explained.
“We don’t have any rejection, we don’t have any disease, we have never seen an infection,” said Dr. Grekos.
“In the big picture it’s a very low risk procedure with a very high upside on the benefits one can gain,” explained Dr. Grekos. “Using adult stem cells is going to be the way that future physicians and maybe current physicians will be treating disease.”
Dr. Grekos summarizes adult stem cell therapy perfectly- probable benefits, very little risk- improved quality of life. Is that so hard to understand?
Multiple Sclerosis Patients STILL Improving After Stem Cell Therapy!
Posted 6 August, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! | No comments
Two months ago, I wrote about two gentlemen who traveled to Costa Rica together to receive repair stem cell treatment for their multiple sclerosis. Richard and Preston were treated in late May, 2008. I first wrote about them here and then followed up with them last month(one month after their stem cell therapy) where Richard stated he has a lot more energy and is “still feeling better,” and Preston stated he is “still feeling like a million bucks!” (click here to see last month)- Now, after approximately two months after their stem cell treatment, I went to check their multiple sclerosis blog to see how they were doing:
From Preston:
Others noticing an improvement
Something happened to me this past week. I went to eat with some friends and one person asked how I was doing after the medical treatment. I didn’t have to answer because one of the other guys said, “He must be pretty good. He’s not dragging his feet.”
And from Richard:
Thursday I went back to the audiologist, and she reduced my hearing aid volume in my left ear down another level. That is 4 levels in the last 4 weeks.
The clinic again checked to make sure it was in complete working order, which it was, and basically they can’t explain how someone’s hearing can improve. The Lord can.
Anemia Patient Doing Well After Stem Cell Transplant!
Posted 5 August, 2008 in ADULT STEM CELL VICTORIES! | No comments
Repair Stem Cells are at it again! Today, I present Garrett Kaulbars, an 8 year old from Naples, Florida who was suffering from aplastic anemia, a rare blood disorder. Garrett needed a bone marrow transplant to save his life. Luckily for Garrett- he has a twin brother, Tanner, who provided a perfect match of stem cells to implant into Garrett to help save him. Now, Garrett is counting the days until he is allowed to leave the house so he can eat at Red Lobster, his favorite restaurant. I suggest the garlic grilled jumbo shrimp Garrett. I am happy you will be able to enjoy it :):
Now, Garrett Kaulbars is counting the days until he can go to Red Lobster for seafood.
Not before Sept. 4, but afterward.
That’s when the 8-year-old will hit the 100-day mark since his bone marrow transplant and he will be considered out of the woods.
His immune system should be strong enough by then that he will be able to leave the confines of his North Naples home.